


Avocado Baby

by Lakeylou



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 03:20:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6735958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lakeylou/pseuds/Lakeylou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lizzie + Red + Agnes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Avocado Baby

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own The Blacklist. *warning for fluff*

Elizabeth wakes early so she can spend an extra hour with Agnes before work.

But she spends forty minutes of that hour feeding her daughter mashed banana.

“Here comes the airplane… ”

Agnes parts her lips for landing, for the tenth time, and Elizabeth moves the spoon faster, hoping to get there before Agnes decides against this morning's breakfast, again. Agnes clamps her mouth around the spoon with puffed cheek.

Liz smiles, quietly thrilled, and watches her daughter's blushed cheeks.

“Good girl, sweetie. Nice banana, huh?"

Agnes opens her mouth; the banana sits on her tongue.

"Wait... No- no don’t-”

Liz holds her hands up, knowing full well Agnes hasn't yet learned the gesture for 'stop'. Liz shakes her head as thick yellow liquid dribbles down her daughter’s chin.

When Agnes smiles there are dimples on her cheeks.

“Banana is good for you,” Liz tells her. She stands upright, goes to collect a cloth from the draw. “I bet you want the Chinese in the fridge… but I think we should wait until you’re a little older, yeah?”

Lizzie wonders what her mother use to feed her.

Did she like mashed banana?

Liz is going to look up some good healthy recipes. 

Agnes gurgles something incoherent and begins to tap the spoon on the tray of her high chair. Liz stops to watch her, even with banana on her face and her hair sticking up at funny angles, Agnes is adorable.

Even when playing the drums with sticky hands and slimy cutlery.

Liz has never felt this type of love before; and it only increases.

“Alright, you keep playing the drums over there, and I’ll-”

Her phone begins to ring where it sits on the bench. The loud noise startles Agnes, so much so, that when Agnes snaps her head towards the sound, a bit of banana falls off her chin.

The floor needs cleaning.

Liz has to have her phone up a notch or two higher with Agnes beginning to make more noise.

Some of the toys she has are ridiculously loud.

“Keen,” Liz answers.

“Liz,” Ressler greets. “Any chance you can get here early?”

No, no, _no!_ Lizzie wants to say, maybe shout.

They said eleven. 

Cooper promised eleven on Mondays and Thursdays.

“I’m not meant to be in till eleven?” Liz replies, glancing at Agnes. She's waving her arms around, and Liz knows she’s going to drop the spoon soon, and then all hell will break loose.

"Aram’s tracked down the co-ordi-”

And Liz watches the spoon slip from her daughter's grip and fall onto the floor. She lifts her eyes to look at Agnes; her bottom lip is already beginning to wobble.

“I knew that was going to happen.”

“Huh?” Ressler murmurs.

“Sorry,” Liz chuckles, leaning down to pick up the spoon. She hands it back to Agnes, pats down her confused hair.

“I need to call Haley, the sitter. She should be free. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“You sure?”

“I’ll be there,” Liz promises. “See you soon.”

Liz ends the call, stares at the state of her kitchen, looks at the mashed banana dotting the floor.

She has so much washing to do.

Agnes is giggling again, utterly transfixed by the spoon, and Lizzie smiles. 

 

***

 

Haley isn't answering her calls.

And Lizzie has one missed call from Red.

She's going to have to ring him today, apologize. 

She doesn't even want to look at her recent calls, all the ones she has missed in the last few weeks; he's called her so often.

She's been busy, a bit flustered.

“Okay, okay, all is okay,” Liz mutters as she lifts Agnes higher on her hip. “I’ve got your bag, yes. My bag, yes. Keys…keys… where are my keys?”

Liz drops both bags at the front door and hurries back down the hall. Agnes begins to giggle as she's bumped up-and-down on her mom's hip. Liz avoids the pile of washing outside the laundry; she can feel it glaring at her.

God, Haley better be home.

Liz is crossing all fingers, Agnes better be crossing her fingers too, because they are going to drive to Haleys and hope to god she's there and not busy.

Liz will pay her double.

“Alright,” Liz says, keys in her hand, Agnes on her hip. She lightly kicks her handbag and the pink backpack outside, then fiddles with the keys to lock the front door.

“Good morning, Lizzie. You seem to be in a rush.”

Reddington.

She hasn't seen him in _weeks_.

_Red._

Agnes is smiling.

“Red,” Lizzie greets, grabs her hand bag and stretches her arm to him. Thankfully, he takes the bag from her grip and then climbs the few steps and takes the other one too. “Thank you," she says gratefully. "I’ve been called in early.”

“You weren’t meant to start until eleven."

She shouldn't be surprised he knows that; he must be keeping tabs on her, talking to Cooper.

She hopes he doesn't think she's been avoiding him. It's just with work and Agnes, things have been a little hectic.

She feels guilty for not taking up his offer on dinner a week ago.

Feels even guiltier for the short text she sent to decline.

“Let me call Harold," Red says.

“No,” Liz stops him by shaking her head. She looks at him for a moment, feels comforted by his mere presence.

She's missed him.

"I've missed you," she says out loud and, in Red's opinion, a bit out of the blue.

"Lizzie. Please let me call Cooper."

Red looks concerned, and she knows Cooper will agree with him. Hell, even Ressler sounded as if he was about to change his mind, tell her they didnt need her. But she can do this. They need her to profile their contact.

Plenty of single mothers can juggle working full time and raising a child. With her shoulders set, Liz starts towards her car.

“I can go in. It's fine.”

Red follows close behind, waves at Agnes who is busy looking at him over Lizzie’s shoulder.

“Hello, Agnes,” Red greets. “Is that banana on your chin?”

“Don’t judge me,” Lizzie says with a small smile. “She’s still in her pajamas.”

“Lucky her. Wouldn’t it be nice to spend all day in your pajamas, Lizzie? Which actually, brings me back to my previous question: why are you going in so early? Harold knows you are starting at eleven.”

“I know,” Lizzie unlocks her car, pulls open the back door. She leans in, begins to sort out the car seat. “But I don’t want people thinking I can’t cope. And how do you know about my eleven o'clock starts anyway?”

“No one is thinking that.”

“Well, I want it to stay that way. Haley should be home.”

“You’re dropping Agnes off?”

“I hope so,” Liz responds, carefully extracting herself from the car as she holds Agnes. “Can you fix the seat for me? I think the straps twisted under."

Red nods and leans inside the car. Liz glances at his backside, at the strain of his shirt as he stretches forward.

"Do tell me, Lizzie, what happens if Haley is not home?” 

“I will cross that bridge when I get there,” Liz looks a way from him. She licks her thumb and wipes Agnes’s chin. “She’s usually home."

“She has a new boyfriend,” Red states simply. He steps back and gestures for her to put Agnes in her seat.

“How do you know that? Red, did you-”

“Harmless security check.”

"Red!" She huffs, though, she supposes she is quite curious. “… He’s okay?”

“Lifeguard.”

Lizzie lets out a huff of laughter, rolls her eyes at him. "Well thank god for that." 

“You know, Lizzie… I have nothing pressing to do for the next few hours.”

“You want to help on the case?” Liz asks, sitting Agnes in her seat and clipping the straps together. She checks them once over, smiles when Red leans in beside her and checks them also. Agnes pouts her lips and Liz presses a kiss to them.  

Then Red pouts his lips and Liz is seriously considering playing along and pressing her lips to his too, but Agnes reaches a hand out and touches Red's lips instead. 

Lizzie thinks it's sweet the way Red kisses the little fingers. She really will have to apologize for her recent lack of communication with him.

"So the case? You'll help?" Liz asks again.

“No, no, God no,” Red shakes his head. "I would rather not be reacquainted with Vivian Smit."

"Some history there?" Lizzie teases.

"Not the kind you're thinking of."

Lizzie raises her eyebrows back at him, then opens the front passenger door and drops the bags on the seat. "I'm sorry for rushing, but i really should go."

“I could look after Agnes.”

Liz turns to look at him.

“What?”

“I could look after Agnes.”

He is nervous, uncomfortable with his own offer.

And she's not exactly helping him with her shocked look and the quiet gasp she let slip, but Red? Red and Agnes? Without her there?

“You… you want to look after Agnes?”

“It will save you time. Haley is sure to be at her boyfriend’s house, and you can-”

“No, no," Lizzie quickly shakes her head. “It’s fine. I have another couple of sitters for emergencies. It’ll work out. Thank you, though, really.”

“Sure,” Red nods, his reply quick. Liz watches him wave at Agnes through the window. “See you Agnes,” he smiles, then looks at Liz.

“Have a good day, Lizzie. Perhaps we can do that dinner one night soon?”

Lizzie nods, still a little stunned by his offer; she watches him turn to leave. She has no idea where his car is. Did he get dropped off?

He's disappointed, she knows he is.

And now he feels bad, guilty for even suggesting the idea.

Red thinks he is not worthy.

“Red,” Lizzie calls, opening the back door.

She unstraps Agnes from her seat.

“Hayley will arrive at eleven. She’s usually early. So it’s only two hours. Her bag,” Lizzie says, and Red's already at her side.

He takes Agnes from her, reaches for the pink back back.

“Everything’s in here. I assume you know how to…”

“I know.” Red responds, adjusting Agnes in his arms.

Lizzie looks at the two of them.

"Thank you," she tells him.

Lizzie looks again, through her rearview mirror when she's driving down the road. Agnes and Red are waving at her, and the pink back pack is slung over Red's shoulder.

 

***

 

Lizzie receives a message from Haley at eleven. 

_Hi Liz, thank you for the day off. Raymond insisted on paying me for coming over – he really shouldn’t have! Thank him again for me. I’ll see you tomorrow._

Lizzie calls Red three times; he doesn’t pick up any of her calls.

He sends her a message instead, and then another message every hour to tell her Agnes is fine.

_Are you avoiding my calls?_

_Of course not._   _How's your case going?_

_How much did you pay Haley?_

_Petrol money for the trip over. And a Christmas bonus._

_It’s June._

_Agnes is fine Lizzie, I promise you. We won’t leave the house._

***

Lizzie arrives home at five, exhausted. She enters through the front door, hangs her coat on the hook and smells lasagna. There are no toys in the hall way. The pile of washing she had outside the laundry is gone. Has the carpet been vacuumed? She follows the noise of running water into the kitchen. A short, dark-haired, elderly woman stands over the kitchen sink, her gloved hands in a pool of soapy water.

Reddington.

What has he done?

“Hello?” Lizzie smiles, lifts her hand to wave at the stranger.

“Hello! You must be the lovely Elizabeth.”

The woman removes the rubber gloves and dries her hands on a fresh towel. The hand towel Liz had hanging on the oven door has gone, finally, it was dirty and smelled like spaghetti.

“How are you? Good? Good day at work? You must be busy. You work too hard. Much too hard. You need rest.”

“Oh, I'm fine,” Lizzie nods, can’t place where the woman’s heavy accent is from. “What is your name?”

“Louisa,” the woman smiles, extends her hand and Liz reaches out and shakes it. “Mr. Reddington called me this morning. I tell him I don’t need to be paid. I do it for him for free, but he insists. I cleaned, you see?”

“Yeah, I do. It looks incredible.” Lizzie replies. It’s literally cleaner than when she first moved in, and there are fresh gardenias in a long-stemmed vase on the table. Liz wants to hug the small woman. “Thank you so much. You didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to. To help you and Mr. Reddington. Dinner is in the oven keeping warm, but i have switched it off. I will be leaving soon.”

“Okay,” Lizzie nods, smiles at her. “Thank you again. Where is uh, Mr. Reddington?”

“He is with baby Agnes. He has not left her side. Lovely to see him so happy.”

***

Lizzie leans against the door frame of the nursery, rests her head on the polished wood. She watches Red in the yellow room, standing over the crib. The clap light is on in the corner, 'Oh, the places you'll go!' open on the arm chair. She doesn't want to make a sound. Not while Red has the little brown bear in his hand, and he's putting on a voice for it. Liz feels a bit teary, blames it on the long day. She wants to remember this small moment forever, and she thinks that Red probably wants to remember it too.

 “His name is Albert," Lizzie says softly. "It’s her favorite toy." Red turns to look at her.

“Hi," she smiles.

“Hello,” Red greets quietly. He gives Albert to Agnes, steps closer to Lizzie. “How are you?”

“Tired,” Lizzie admits, and walks into the room. It's been tidied too; all the books are stacked neatly on the shelf; all the toys back in their box. Liz stands next to Red, looks down at Agnes and brushes her fingers through the soft hair on her daughter's head.

“How was she?”

“Perfect.”

Lizzie looks up at him, smiles when he nods at her.

“You know, you could have just told me you wanted to spend time with her.”

“I thought you were going to be here too,” Red says.

"This morning?"

"Yeah."

So he wanted to spend time with them both, Lizzie thinks. After everything that has happened in the last year, after her disappearance to keep Agnes safe, to have Red believe she was dead, she hasn't been fair on him these last few weeks.

She needs to explain.

She needs him.

"Being back at work is... it's a lot harder than i expected. I'm sorry I've been distant with you. "

"You're fine, Lizzie. You're doing a wonderful job, both here and at work."

"I hope so."

Red look at her, holds her gaze.

"I've never seen a child smile quite as much as Agnes."

Right on cue, Agnes blinks at them both and smiles.

It must be contagious, Lizzie thinks, because she looks at Red and he smiles at her and she smiles back. 

"Red... I know that I've said things to you before... Before I had Agnes... And when I lashed out at you, at her birth. I hope you know that I was wrong. Especially after my hesitancy today."

"Lizzie." Red wants to stop her.

"I shouldn't have ever said anything... Because I know the things i tell you, you take to heart. And I was wrong when I told you to keep away. I should have known better. You're so great with her."

"It's not wrong of you, Lizzie. It's wrong of me to be here right now, to _want_  to be here right now." Red looks across at her, swallows hard. His eyes are wet. "I need you to tell me to go again. Because we both know I shouldn't be here."

Lizzie shakes her head.

"I'm not going to tell you to go Red." 

 

***

 

"Do you want to stay for dinner? I made a lasagna..." 

Red laughs quietly to not wake Agnes. "You made a lasagna? I don't know how you find the time, Lizzie."

"Thank you, for Louisa. The house was a ... a little messy."

"I like to think it was a creative environment. All the paints on the floor, the books, the- "

"The squashed food on the floor?"

"Yes, well, i did have to clean my shoes a few times."

Lizzie grins, steps back from the the crib. "I'm just going to wash up quickly."

"Okay."

Liz watches him take a seat on the chair. She wonders whether Agnes worn him out. She wants to know what they got up to all day.

"You know there's a baby monitor downstairs," Lizzie tells him.

"I know."

"Okay. I won't be long."

"Lizzie?" Red looks over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Avocado."

"Avocado?"

"Mashed avocado with banana. Agnes likes it."

"Really?"

"Yes. Have you ever read the story Avocado Baby?"

"No."

"It's a brilliant chidrens' book. I'll have to get it for you and Agnes."

"Sounds good."

"And Lizzie?" 

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Lizzie smiles.

And Liz has never felt this type of love before either; and it only increases.

"I love you, Red."

 ***


End file.
